Whilst I think it’s important to bring the best of tradition into education, I also think we should try to bring the best of innovation in too. In fact, I think that combining traditional subject knowledge-led instruction with innovative digital online technology has great potential – as long as we are selective, and not seduced by transient vogues.

The danger of innovation, as Daisy Christodoulou points out, is that ‘nothing dates so fast as the cutting edge’. Algebra and the alphabet have existed usefully for hundreds of years, and will continue to be useful for hundreds of years to come; iPads and interactive whiteboards have been around…